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The Sweeney family: Jerry Sweeney, third from right, with his employees in the mid-1970s, opened the first McDonald's in the borough. The restaurant remains, on Forest Avenue in Graniteville, near Richmond Avenue.
(Photo courtesy of the Sweeney family)

When the first McDonald's opened for business on Staten Island in 1973, the Graniteville-based eatery sold hamburgers for just 33 cents. Seven more pennies got you a cheeseburger. French fries were 30 cents.

The borough's first golden arches popped up on Forest Avenue, near the busy Richmond Avenue intersection, 40 years ago this past November.

It was operated by Jerry Sweeney, who told the Advance in 2008 he was very nervous when the business first opened its doors.

"It was kind of tough in the beginning, and we had to scrape by for a while," he said.

How tough? On the morning of its first day in business, the eatery didn't have buns for the hamburgers, Sweeney recalled. The delivery truck fortunately arrived an hour before the store opened.

Sweeney, the father of six children, had no previous professional experience in fast-food restaurants, according to Advance archives. He was leaving behind a secure, high-powered job in the insurance industry to "open a hamburger stand," as his wife Ellie then described the venture.

He also faced competition from a Burger King down the street and a Wetson's (remember that?) nearby.

The business obviously survived.

Check out the menu prices from the photo above: A Filet-O-Fish was 65 cents, while a Quarter Pounder with cheese is just under a buck. An order of a large fries was only 48 cents.